


An Inked Code

by 1337Sans



Category: AU - Fandom, Alternate Universes - Fandom, Dream!Sans - Fandom, Error!sans - Fandom, Ink!Sans - Fandom, Undertale
Genre: Other, Undertale AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-16 16:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8109502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1337Sans/pseuds/1337Sans
Summary: This is not an original piece. It's an inspired fanfiction of fan characters. I do not own Undertale, that credit goes to Toby Fox. Ink! , Dream! and Error! Sans do not belong to me either. Being that Iam so new to the site too... Some guidance would be appreciated.





	1. An Inked Coding Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is not an original piece. It's an inspired fanfiction of fan characters. I do not own Undertale, that credit goes to Toby Fox. Ink! , Dream! and Error! Sans do not belong to me either. 
> 
> Being that Iam so new to the site too... Some guidance would be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prologue

 

The scent of smoke and burning flesh, nipped at her nostrils, as she stood alone in a home. A blue book lay open on the ground, it gradually began to join the flaming foundation of the wooden cabin, along with the rest of the furniture. A Lovely blue couch blackened, inked pictures melted away. The visored knight stood in the center, snapping her head toward what sounded like multiple springs breaking away from something. Right... The house was burning down. Caught in an odd trance, the armored figure staggered out. She freed her lungs of the burning toxicity. Now to figure out what was going on. Out into the crisp, cold air of what was once, a cozy little snow town, she watched as figures of many shapes ran in panic. They were running from-... Strings? Glowing, blue strings? But who-... Something wasn't right here. This _whole scene_ wasn't right! None of it made any sense. The strings on the ground, covered the whole town, they draped over the colorfully decorated trees. It took a doubled glance to not mistake those unfitful tendons for Christmas decorations.

Suddenly, as if they responded to her presence, the odd, glowing abominations leapt up.  
The panicked knight narrowly escaped the tendrils, and bolted away. She had the urge, that someone... or something was around, watching her. She regretted looking up at the sky, it seemed to be... warping? No... Digitizing, _pixilated_ , just all around collapsing into itself! The knight turned, when there was a noisy thunk onto a building marked library. When she looked over, she missed who it was. But, there was something else that caught her attention. Three much smaller creatures scattered, running off into what now looked like a burning library. What, why were they going in there?! Did they not see the fire? It was a library! Filled mostly with dusty tomes and surface books. Usually, those are flammable! When the knight spoke, words refused to leave her tongue, forcing her to make a snap decision and run inside of the building.  
The library was empty. All but the the crackling of glass and flickering of oranges lay before her. The tall bookshelves that once had her favorite book series crumbled. But that didn't matter, where did the children go? In a vain attempt to keep oxygen, the knight pulled out a rag, and held it up to the rounded visor hiding her face, where the mouth should _be_ in particular. The lack of air was weighing down on her by now, and as she trotted deeper inside of the fiery trap... She started to feel... hopeless?....

  
                        Why

 

Did

                             It

                                       

Feel  
                             So...

 

....  
Hopeless

  
The knight reached the other end of the library. But no one else was there... What? She had just seen them come in! ...Had they been wiped out so quickly? The knight felt a shiver run down her spine. Now she really had the feeling someone was watching... Turning slowly, the knight saw the three small figures in the air, ensnared by those same glowing, blue strings. A pair of red and yellow orbs appeared from another set of giant bookshelves, followed by an inverted black body, lounging Casually. It was as if she were staring in the eyes of some psycho! Their skeletal hands shifted lazily, and those same blue strings suddenly appeared to be laced all around, like a web. Another pull, and a sickening crack pulled three figures into view. The knight lunged up to save the children.

B    u    t    s    h    e    w    a    s...  t    o   o - l   a   t   e....

 

The three victims exploded into glittering dust, and fluttered away... 

 


	2. An Inked Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that she's finally gotten a grip of consciousness, the knight now is faced with a new challenge; Figuring out what the hell just happened. Will she find her answers? Will there be consequences? One may find allies in the most unexpected of places... But, with allies there are...

...But, She was too late.

 

A blinding light flashed, rustling the sleepy caverns of the infamous city, Waterfall. What could that have been? Or rather... Who? Amidst the caves, a pair of skeletons strolled by. At first set in their ways to visit a friend, the taller... more colorful of the pair perked up at an intriguing sight. After a short debate, the pair walked into what appeared to be a dumping zone. Piles of garbage and... otherworldly items lay in a shallow pond. Some piles of garbage were inches above the water, while others came short of the sparkling ceiling above. Papyrus never really questioned how the garbage got here, but was definitely excitable when he found items of interest. A set of knee high red-boots squished carelessly into the muddy under surface of the water. Just a few feet short of this tall, cartoony skeletal man, was a shorter, more husky looking skeleton in a blue hoodie. Compared to the odd red cape and blue underwear the taller skeleton wore, this one seemed more relaxed, and much less flamboyant; he walked through the mud in bunny slippers.

Among the heaps of garbage lay a body. Face down in the water, the only story this figure told, was a dull sheen of an off black metal, molded in the shape of a person.

"Wowie! Look Sans! someone seems to have left this perfectly good armor laying in the garbage!" The taller skeleton spoke, his voice was significantly higher than that of the shorter figure's. "I don't know, bro. Seems kinda... trashy if you ask me." Compared to the higher pitch, this strange new voice sounded older than the taller individual. The taller brother nyehed, both agitated and amused. But The Great Papyrus would have none of his brother's nonsense!

"Nonsense, brother! I know a certain bonetastic knight that would LOVE it!"

"Heheh. Ok Paps." Sans spoke. Looking at the armor, it did look durable, almost like Temmie's armor. But this anomaly couldn't be a Tem. It definitely didn't have the quirky structure... It had more, of a human structure. Maybe it was a stray Frisk? He'd keep his judgement quiet for now.

Papyrus circled the feminine form, pausing at the legs and knelt down. "Help me get it out, Sans!"

"Nah, I think I'll just watch."

"UGH! You lazy bonedoggler! Fine! I guess I, the GREAT PAPYRUS... will do all the heavy lifting."

"Heh. Sounds good Paps."

Sans glanced down, and watched the figure, maybe this was a cruel method... But he didn't want to get too involved with outer forces unless he had to. Upon lifting, the armor creaked, and made a sudden pained groan.

"Sans! It spoke!"

"I dunno bro, talking may not be... a suitable term in this situation."

"Whaaat?! Do you mean to tell me that something is UNDER the armor? Hurry Sans! Let's move it out o the way!"

"Okay"

....

"What are you doing! Don't put it back!"

"Oww... Ow OW! Stop moving me so roughly!"

Just who WERE these clowns?! "Iam NOT armor! IAM- ...Iam.." The voice in the armor fell silent. In jumbled confusion, the armor seemed to be mumbling to itself.

"Oh No! The Armor does not know what it is Sans!"

The girl within the armor's head pounded. While the taller Papyrus began moving in a hype, 'Sans' seemed to lean forward with a toothy grin. How was this girl not drowning in that? With a heave, Sans had turned the stranger over, propping her up.

"Are you having an eye-dentity crisis? A little advisery would be to lift this helmet thing."

Ah god the bad jokes were back! Her poor ears. Was this some sort of new hell for her? What a cruel taste of her own medicine! Maybe she deserved this, maybe- Oh god that light! Too bright. With an ear gouging screech, the helmet viser was lifted, assaulting the knight with an odd light. Mismatched orbs squinted, somewhat blinded. After a short pause, the world began to render before her. Well... Mostly. Honestly, all she saw were two cartoony skulls staring at her. The girl gasped. "Gah!" She recoiled, falling to the right where she flailed to catch herself, but instead met sloppy comics and dirty water.

The stranger struggled, trying to get out of the suffocating water. Words echoed around her

"Wowie, Sans! A human!"

"Nope."

"What? What do you mean! She has to be human!"

Finally, the stranger pulled herself up, wavering in lethargy. The brothers looked at one another, then at the stranger. Her own red and blues couldn't keep proper focus. Papyrus piped up.

"Not-human, what are you? " That's what he said... right?

The shorter Sans leaned forward, waving a stout hand infront of her face, raising a boned brow. "Hey." "Hey Sol." As 'Sol' looked the fading figure over, she felt... a familiar shiver. Why was he suddenly staring like that? Why were those... Glowing blue eyes so dead set on her suddenly? Oh no... had she already screwed up? But, she'd just gotten here! For a split second, the face glitched and decoded, then vanished leaving only two menacing blue orbs to watch her float into the abyss. Further... And Further. Hehe.

When would the spinning... nothing stop? Would it _ever_ stop?

After what seemed an eternity, a young woman lay in an open field. Strangely enough, the field seemed to drop back off into the abyss after so far a distance. Unaware of her missing right arm, the stranger felt for her face, with her left hand. Nothing? No helmet maybe? No, just half on. After expending unnecessary effort, the helmet dropped to the ground, and... vanished? Speaking of which... Wasn't she just in a dump? And with two skeletons. No matter... She seemed to be alone, now.

Except, that she wasn't actually alone. Another voice chimed in suddenly. "Not exactly." Tilting her head to the side, as red dust drenched white locks swished with the wind, she couldn't quite register what she was seeing. "Who-" She voiced, but stopped. There he sat, one bone leg crossed over the other, on some sort of floating object. No... a paintbrush! That's what it was. A new Sans? She only thought was new, because this one looked different than the last one.

 

This Sans wore his coat over his waist, a gray-black painter smock adorned his chest. Huh... A Han Solo type belt? Some kind of bullet carrier, except... With colored heart paint jars lining it, along with a few other misc. pockets of paint supplies. Looking lower, the Sans had a pair of paint spattered high top sneakers. She could see bits of bone with this one, as he was wearing cargo shorts. Oh and that awesome scarf! This guy was stylin' but... not in the 'parasitic' way. Ugh, That guy sucked.

 

A blinding light flashed, rustling the sleepy caverns of the infamous city, Waterfall. What could that have been? Or rather... Who? Amidst the caves, a pair of skeletons strolled by. At first set in their ways to visit a friend, the taller... more colorful of the pair perked up at an intriguing sight. After a short debate, the pair walked into what appeared to be a dumping zone. Piles of garbage and... otherworldly items lay in a shallow pond. Some piles of garbage were inches above the water, while others came short of the sparkling ceiling above. Papyrus never really questioned how the garbage got here, but was definitely excitable when he found items of interest. A set of knee high red-boots squished carelessly into the muddy under surface of the water. Just a few feet short of this tall, cartoony skeletal man, was a shorter, more husky looking skeleton in a blue hoodie. Compared to the odd red cape and blue underwear the taller skeleton wore, this one seemed more relaxed, and much less flamboyant; he walked through the mud in bunny slippers.  

Among the heaps of garbage lay a body. Face down in the water, the only story this figure told, was a dull sheen of an off black metal, molded in the shape of a person.

 "Wowie! Look Sans! someone seems to have left this perfectly good armor laying in the garbage!" The taller skeleton spoke, his voice was significantly higher than than the shorter figure's. "I don't know, bro. Seems kinda... trashy if you ask me." Compared to the higher pitch, this strange new voice sounded older than the taller individual. The taller brother nyehed, both agitatedand amused. But The Great Papyrus would have none of his brother's nonsense!

"Nonsense,brother! I know a certain bonetastic knight that would LOVE it!" 

"Heheh. Ok Paps." Sans spoke. Looking at the armor, it did look durable, almost like Temmie's armor. But this anomaly couldn't be a Tem. It definitely didn't have the querky structure... It had more, of a human structure. Maybe it was a stray Frisk? He'd keep his judgement quiet for now. 

Papyrus circled the feminine form, pausing at the legs and knelt down. "Help me get it out, Sans!" 

"Nah, I think I'll just watch." 

"UGH! You lazy bonedoggler! Fine! I guess I, the GREAT PAPYRUS... will do all the heavy lifting." 

"Heh. Sounds good Paps." 

Sans glanced down, and watched the figure, maybe this was a cruel method... But he didn't want to get too involved with outer forces unless he had to. Upon lifting, the armor creaked, and made a sudden pained groan. 

"Sans! It spoke!"

"I dunno bro, talking may not be... a suitable term in this situation."

"Whaaat?! Do you mean to tell me that something is UNDER the armor? Hurry Sans! Let's move it out o the way!"

"Okay"

....

"What are you doing! Don't put it back!"

"Oww... Ow OW! Stop moving me so roughly!" 

Just who WERE these clowns?! "Iam NOT armor! IAM- ...Iam.." The voice in the armor fell silent. In jumbled confusion, the armor seemed to be mumbling to itself.

"Oh No! The Armor does not know what it is Sans!" 

The girl within the armor's head pounded. While the taller Papyrus began moving in a hype, 'Sans' seemed to lean forward with a toothy grin. How was this girl not drowning in that? With a heave, Sans had turned the stranger over, propping her up. 

"Are you having an eye-dentity crisis? A little advisery would be to lift this helmet thing." 

Ah god the bad jokes were back! Her poor ears. Was this some sort of new hell for her? What a cruel taste of her own medicine! Maybe she deserved this, maybe- Oh god that light! Too bright. With an ear gouging screech, the helmet viser was lifted, assaulting the knight with an odd light. Mismatched orbs squinted, somewhat blinded. After a short pause, the world began to render before her. Well... Mostly. Honestly, all she saw were two cartoony skulls staring at her. The girl gasped. "Gah!" She recoiled, falling to the right where she flailed to catch herself, but instead met sloppy comics and dirty water. 

The stranger struggled, trying to get out of the suffocating water. Words echoed around her

"Wowie, Sans! A human!"

"Nope."

"What? What do you mean! She has to be human!"

Finally, the stranger pulled herself up, wavering in lethargy. The brothers looked at one another, then at the stranger. Her own red and blues couldn't keep proper focus. Papyrus piped up.

"Not-human, what are you? " That's what he said... right?

The shorter Sans leaned forward, waving a stout hand infront of her face, raising a boned brow. "Hey." "Hey Sol." As 'Sol' looked the fading figure over, she felt... a familiar shiver. Why was he suddenly staring like that? Why were those... Glowing blue eyes so dead set on her suddenly? Oh no... had she already screwed up? But, she'd just gotten here! For a split second, the face glitched and decoded, then vanished leaving only two menacing blue orbs to watch her float into the abyss.  Further... And Further. Hehe. 

When would the spinning... nothing stop? Would it _ever_ stop? 

After what seemed an eternity, a young woman lay in an open field. Strangely enough, the field seemed to drop back off into the abyss after so far a distance. Unaware of her missing right arm, the stranger felt for her face, with her left hand. Nothing? No helmet maybe? No, just half on. After expending unnecessary effort, the helmet dropped to the ground, and... vanished? Speaking of which... Wasn't she just in a dump? And with two skeletons. No matter... She seemed to be alone, now. 

Except, that she wasn't actually alone. Another voice chimed in suddenly. "Not exactly."

Tilting her head to the side, as short- scruffy red dust drenched white locks swished with the wind, she couldn't quite register what she was seeing. "Who-" She voiced, but stopped.There he sat, one bone leg crossed over the other, on some sort of floating object. No... a paintbrush! That's what it was. A new Sans? She only thought new, because this one looked different than the last one.  Very different, and more mindful of his sense of dress. 

 

This Sans wore his coat over his waist, a gray-black painter smock adorned his chest, under a pinstriped brown and gold trimmed, open vest. Huh... A Han Solo type belt? Some kind of bullet carrier, except... With colored heart paint jars lining it, along with a few other misc. pockets of paint supplies. Looking lower, the Sans had a pair of paint spattered high top sneakers. She could see bits of bone with this one, as he was wearing cargo shorts. Oh and that awesome scarf! This guy was stylin' but... not in a 'parasitic' way. That guy sucked. 

As if he read her very mind, the Sans grinned, somewhat excited. Or perhaps full of himself? Just a bit? Multi-colored eyes changed every few seconds, for some reason, this Sans could barely contain himself at the sight before him. With a nimble jump from his large tool, the Sans bounded toward the stranger. Well... The whole three or four feet she was away. He seemed to know her better than herself, for sure.  

 

"I've found you, Solstice." His voice came out cooly, like he'd been through this before. 

 

The knight, now named Solstice paused. Did he just... "Wh- You know my name? How-... Hold on, that's my name?" 

"Fits like my glove." Ink Sans grinned, wiggling his gloved, skeletal fingers. The same gloved hand lifted back up, and knocked on Sol's head gently. 

"Sounds like more got jumbled up in there than I expected. You don't know a thing about your situation, do you?"

"And here I thought it was obvious." Sol remarked, with a half smirk of sass. Ink's yellow starred eye lit up slightly, as his new victim was caught within the web of humor. It didn't take much longer for Sol to realize what she'd done, and she quickly shot back at Ink; "Hey! what's that supposed to mean?!" 

InkSans chuckled in mild amusement. "Think you could use an extra hand too?" 

Now where did that come from? "You're joking right?! I have both-..." As Sol moved her hands, only the left responded; While the right remained immobile under her hulking armor. 

While the girl struggled in vain to move her arm, there was an odd rave of emotional colors going off in Sans's eye-sockets. The flurry of colors settled upon a gloomy gray color for a short moment. Was he... showing sympathy? With the flick of his wrist, Ink had summoned his oversized tool to his side and swung it. Naturally, this sent paint splattering everywhere. 

Everywhere the paint touched, new bits appeared in the field. Flowers... Animals scurried away, at one point she may have seen a cluster of grass shift. Wait, was that a green cat running off?! Huh.. Catmeleon. But then, a sobering sight befell Sol, as the paint spattered over her armor, shattering it away. Standing, mostly naked, Sol shivered in the wind. "Did it get-..." She fell silent.

Ink smiled nervously, maybe he put too much into that swing afterall. A loud squeal sent the field into a digitized nightmare for a moment, and it sent Ink backing up and covering his ear holes. "Hey! WHAT THE HELL MAN?!" A flow of rainbows ran over the skeleton's cheekbones as Sol paced around, trying to find cover. At this point, Sol was only in her... pink, frilly underwear. Well... He could say one thing, she was a damned flirt, even without a brain. "Heheh, Sorry Sol. I'll fix that right away."

Maybe not so sympathetic afterall... Ink gathered up one of his paint jars, a red and a purple to be exact, and went to open them. When he was in the process of working magic to bring the lost garments back, Ink paused and stared blankly for a moment. Hmm... For some reason, something was bothering him about this conjuring... He couldn't quite pin his skull on it.

Among the wind, as if answering his thoughts, there sounded a gentle jingle of bells. Ink looked up expectantly while Sol looked baffled. Then it came... In a flash of gold and blue, the smaller skeleton came flying from the sky. "INKIEEEEEEE!" The little dream prince squealed. Ink grinned, opening his arms. Effortlessly, the protector of inspiration caught the smaller, crowned anomaly which was another version of him. "Hey Dream. Aren't you supposed to be on lookout of this... lovely young lady's dream?" 

The smaller Sans nodded. "I know... but there was a sound." 

" A Sound? What sort?"

"Hard to tell. Also, why's she naked?"

"Uhm... heheh. I should fix that."

Ink went to continue his summoning, but stopped. A Sound? Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to start weaving magic. Odds are... HE would come running.

Sol had ran herself ragged, still weak, even in her own dream. The knight had stopped, to look at her right arm... Or what was left of it. Along the damaged limb, was an odd blackening. Was it infected? No... By this point, she'd have had a fever. Unless this was just one big fevered dream. But, yet... under the black... scorch marks. Yeah, she'd call them scorch marks. It looked like it was the makings of...

"Sol." Ink spoke, derailing the girl. Dream grinned again. "So this is her?!" Launching off of the larger Sans, Dream ran over to inspect the knight.  "Careful. You might send her jumping out of her own dream. We don't need that, do we? It's always a pain to round 'em up." 

Since when did she become the latest attraction! Sol growled, redder than ever. "Wow, she matches Paps' scarf!" Sol's red eye twitched. "HEY! MIND GIVING ME SOME PRIVACY?! I'm in the middle of a crisis here!" 

Ink snickered slightly. Dream on the other hand, knew there was a tinge of guilt lingering around the artist Sans. He however, was more open and pouted, but didn't want to miss the opportunity to make a new friend. Sooo, Dream turned in a huff at Ink. "Uh-... YEAH INKIE! Geez, give the girl some pryva... Privacy! Yeah, that's the word!"  Dream jested slightly. Ink sighed, turning rainbow again. Laughing, Ink glowered slightly at Dream, then reluctantly pulled his blue hoodie from his waist and tossed, before snatching Dream and turning them both around. "Uhh... Here! Cover up or... somethin'."

The now tossed hoodie, landed on Sol's head. In muffled agitation, she started snapping. "Hey! Don't play it off like it's MY fault! Ya perv!~ You're the one stripping me in my own dream! What am I... Your dream girl or something?!"  

Maybe she shouldn't have said that... Within seconds, Inksans was inches from Sol's half covered face, grinning mischievously. "...Maybe." Sol backed up, reddening again. When moving to touch Sol again, Ink helped her to adjust the hoodie. 

When under the oddly warm clothing, Solstice looked her stub over again. Why was it so... Once again derailed, she felt the two pairs of boney hands adjust the sweater so it was on properly and zip it up. "Nice and snug like a bed bug." Dream grinned. Sol left- facepalmed and sighed. But... The help was appreciated, she cracked a weak smile. "Thanks." There was a silence... And the two Sans' found themselves compelled to hug her. But one question revealed itself most.

"...How many of you are there?" Both Dream and Ink exchanged grins. ..Why did she get the feeling she was now the butt of their joke? "Hey uhhh Earth to Sans...es! Stop leaving me hanging here!"

The stranger froze, why did she just say that... She should NOT have said that. Was she-... no she couldn't be! About ten feet above the mismatched skeletons, she floated. With a gasp, she tugged her coat below her... Well you know.

"Looks like you're fallin' for us now." Ink Joked. "HAR DE HAR! Let me dooown! Wait why am I going up? Is there a reverse button!?" What was she to do now?! Having hovered higher and higher, suddenly she stopped, and began to fall. In a desperate attempt not to become a Sol-pancake, she swung her left hand wildly, clutching... OH thank god the paint brush. ...Bristles.

"ARE WE QUITE FINISHED?!" Sol yelled, slowly descending back to the Sans one and two. Making a silent laughing motion, Ink nodded. Dream returned to his usual carefree self and stood in the back, alert.

Onto business... Obviously the two knew... lots of somethings she didn't know. Knowing them, if she dodged the subject, they'd make another joke of it... And she did not like being a Jokebutt. Going into the subject all the way, Sol exhaled and stepped back over to Ink. "You both... obviously know... ALOT about me that I don't quite know... So, can you tell me what's going on? What happened?-" \

Ink watched Sol intently, he almost looked like he was about to pop another joke. Fortunately, Inksans had enough control not to make the joke. That... or he had forgotten what he was doing. 

"Dream, should we tell her?" Dream poked his head up from a daisy. "Should we-... What?" 

"You know, the thing! ...About the thing and... that other thing?" 

Wait... The thing about... what thing? Was this guy out of his mind?! No... that didn't seem to quite fit Ink so well. Dream shifted around, tugging at his golden capem. Somehow, Dream puffed his cheeks out at Ink. "You know why we can't, Ink. You said it yourself." 

Ink grinned, obviously... not remembering. "I did? " He tilted his ink spattered head to the side in confusion. Followed by the rest of his body shifting, he summoned his once limp, brown-white scarf to his hands. Sans looked around, then pulled a worn fountain pin from... his eyesocket? Ugh this was getting more and more confusing. But, also kind of intriguing. And, who puts a pin in their eye?! Solstice shivered at the thought. 

By now, Ink had reached down and grabbed his purple paint vial and popped the heart lid off, as if this wasn't urgent at all... Ink dipped the fountain pin into the jar. When the tip of the pin hit his scarf, it suddenly burst into vivid colored ink splotches of wording and notes. 

While Ink toiled away with his memory loss, Dream scooted over to the zoning Sol. Like a cat, she jumped, which caused Dream to giggle. "You're just like a cat." "Well... Here's a reality check IAM a cat." Sulking, Sol crossed her arms together and sat. Dream stared. "I take it, he's a bit forgetful? And now my curiosity is pequed."

 "AHA!" "...Jesus!" 

Yet another jump scare, and Solstice was back on her feet, clutching her chest. Two blue and yellow starts glittered in amusement at Sol's expense. ...Again. "If ya keep jumping around like that you might fall outta your skin, Sol." 

"You've said that already!" Both Dream and Sol chimed. Ink smiled. "Oh... I did, didn't I?" "So that's your cutesy little nickname for me now?! Sol?" "Yeah, and now YOU forgot, that I've said it in the last few paragraphs." Ink teased. 

"Paragraphs?" Sol sighed. "Whatever, nevermind!" Frustrated, Sol scooted around, turning her back to them. "Ya rainbow copy!" Solstice missed something, however. While the two Alternat Sanses started laughing, there was an odd leak of rainbow from one of Ink's sockets. When she turned, Ink abruptly wiped the color away, effectively smudging his cheek with color. Unlike Dream who was practically glowing, there was... a somber feel to this atmosphere. Why? She may never know. 

Inksans nodded. "Right... Back to business. I can't tell you Sol, not here." 

Sol's red and blues widened "WHAT?! You brought me here! Why can't you tell me?!" What a rip off! She was desperate to know what happened.. And every time she tried to think back, one of THEM would stop her. 

....

Distant voices began to sound. Screaming? What was that? Sol glanced around in confusion. Dream seemed shaken all of a sudden, more eager now, he looked at the pair. "Inkie, can we hurry this up?" What was going on? Why was everyone so afraid suddenly? Before she knew it, the surrounding area began to darken around Sol. Her two new friends began to fade in the newly developing blight. And for a second... without her armor, she felt... Vulnerable. 

Sol's heart skipped a beat when something grabbed her shoulder. She turned suddenly in fear. Only to meet InkSans, Inches from her, staring down? Hey, wasn't she taller? The star of his eye darkened, took on more of an indigo color, while the other seemed to look normal. Both were focused on her.

"Don't dwell in dark places, kid. It's not safe to tell you here." Sol stared in protest. "Hey come on now! This IS my dream! What do you mean it's not safe? I can control it!" She fell silent, suddenly doubtful. "...Right?" Dream shook his head. "It's not that simple."

Ink Sans pulled his hand away, going for his pocket, awkwardly adjusting his belt when he remembered, Sol had his hoodie. Dream and Ink soon began to back away, taking the once serene field with them.

"Hey! Don't you float away when I'm talking!" The girl's bare toes curled, and her foot kicked off the ground. In an attempt to get them back, she lunged and swiped at them with suddenly unsheathed claws.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next time for another exciting episode of DRAGON SOL Z-... Wait. Wrong scene~. Hope you enjoyed it.


	3. Inked Font

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you get, when you cross an anomaly with a glitch?

 

 

 

With her unsheathed claw, Solstice fell to the ground with a loud thud. Her bones quivered, and she was left looking up in wonder. "How... Did I literally just-... Fall back into reality?" That would imply she went somewhere... Caught in a daze, the stranger rubbed at her head, and looked around, before gazing back down at her newly unsheathed claws. "Hmmm... It couldn't have possibly just been a dream?" When she had the means to get up and walk, Sol inspected the garage. Yes... it was some sort of garage. From where she was, half of the garage had wide set bars that stretched from ground to ceiling, connecting to a wooden wall. Some kind of door, it seemed. Nestled in the corner, was a large... dog bed? Looked cozy enough. Nestled on the bed was a sleeping feline. "...Familiar." She peered down at the bowl on the ground, inside was a handful of dog food, and a cut up hot dog. Looking between the bed and the food, something didn't sit right with the fallen knight. "Who feeds a cat dog food?!" 

 

While Sol inspected her surroundings further, more in particular the bars, the cat opened one big, green eye. The feline stretched lazily, tail flicking a spider crawling down away. Oddly enough, the fur on the cat suddenly darkened to a yellow color as it sauntered over to Sol. "...heh, rainbow cat." Sol cracked a weak smile. "What's going on here, little guy? What's your name?" She asked. The cat, seeming uncooperative, stretched, and looked around. Was a cat giving her the cold shoulder? Well... it was pretty rude to just demand answers from the cat. "Sorry kitty, I'm Sol...stice. Or... Sol I guess. I like the name Sol better. " She scratched at her head awkwardly. Giving the girl a moment, the cat moved closer to Sol and sniffed at her. Giving the furry stranger time, Sol waited. The cat's fur color shifted, impatiently, it walked closer, and pressed its head into Sol's open hand. "Huh, demanding~" Sol leaned forward to stroke the rainbow cat's silky fur. Soon, she found the collar. "Ah... Canvas. Cute name~ Makes sense." 

 

Sol yawned, pressing her hand into the pocket of... The hoodie of her dream?! This wasn't right! "Oh no..." She patted up and down her body with her whole arm. "Oh no, oh no, oh no! Where are my clothes?!" In a panic, Sol began to cross the room, pulling open cabinets and drawers. Nothing... "Hold... is this... Sans' hoodie?! This is!... I'm so dead if he finds me wearing it! He already gave me that creepy ass stare! I STILL don't know what I did to earn that..." Canvas seemed to be enjoying this, trotting behind Sol, fur an emerald green color. Like his eyes. Stupid cat was getting a kick out of this, wasn't he? It wasn't quite a wise move, running around like so... Sol felt herself shudder, like she'd been tortured or something. Huh, was she already punished for being naked in another skeleton's hoodie? No... Sans didn't look like the type to just lop her arm off and be done... Well, THAT one didn't, atleast.

 

Catching her second wind, Sol paced back to the oversized dog bed, and let herself fall down. She easily brought one bare leg to rest over the other. She had to think before she did something brash. "Right, let's think a moment Sol. I passed out... Obviously? Why am I naked? ...Did I actually meet Sans two and three? No... They called themselves... Ink and Dream." A loud purr came from the girl's side, Canvas had made himself at home next to her. "Come to think of it, you look like that Catmeleon thing I saw, Canvas." Canvas glanced up, then back down to the intriguing air around his left paw. "Mmm... I need to get this thing off and find my clothes..." Perking up, Canvas hopped onto the Zipper of Sol's newly acquired hoodie. "Damned cat. You're not helping! " As she moved her one good hand, Canvas' paw arose, like he was about to swipe the girl. "...You're not going to let me take this off, are you? Fine, if I get into more trouble, it's on you cat." As if to comfort her, the cat leaned up and brushed against Sol's chin. Canvas hopped away, when there was a set of footsteps. 

 

Sol paused. "...Oh god, this is it. Isn't it?!" The sound stopped, and there was another rustling noise... and a jingle. Keys maybe? Sol listened in horror as the keys slid into the lock fixture. Hold the phone, she could've left this whole time?! Maybe it was best to focus on the now... Like... NOW, what would she do?! Millions of thoughts ran through the female's head, she stiffened. Wow... it sure was taking a while for the door to open. Was it stuck? Ugh, the suspense was killing her. Couldn't she just.. get up and open the door? Did Sans NOT know how to open a door?! Getting up, Sol inched between the bars, getting ready to open the door when...

Something unexpected happened! "WOWIE! You're a wake, not human?" 'UGh, just call me a monster already, that's what Iam, isn't it?! ' A half hysterical grin curled across plump, pink lips. She had to be a monster, if another strange-...Creature was refusing to call her human. Sol let out a shaky sigh of relief. "H-hey... uhh... Bro?" SHIT! Wrong phrase! Pause rewind- crap! Why did she blurt that out? 

 

At the odd response, Papyrus' eye sockets lit up. '....I'm toast.' Hold up... why was he taking so long to call her out? Blue and reds met Papyrus' eyeballs. Then Papyrus grinned. "I see. I SEE NOW! You, great brother, became a HUMAN to comfort the not-human!" Sol sputtered and panicked. "I'm so sor- Wait... what?!" Did he just-.... call her brother? Papyrus rested his hands on his underweared pelvis in triumph, and winked. Weirdo. "But wait... Where IS the not-human, brother?" '...I can't believe I did this... Ah- am I doing this?!' Solstice thought a moment again. What could she say next? Did she want to say anything even? Canvas stared up at Sol now at her ankles waiting, as Sol tried to change her voice up. "I dunno uhh... bro. Maybe she... turned tail and ran?" Papyrus' socket twitched, as if he was about to scold his brother(?), but settled on the statement. "I see... How could she have escaped?I was positive she wouldn't want to leave! You sell the best hotdogs, and that bed is the most comfortable around..." Papyrus pouted in disappointment. Now, Solstice's eye twitched. "You mean the CAT bed?! You expected me to-..." She fell silent, however, as a familiar stout figure came into the doorway. 

 

Was it him?! Was it-... "Ink you-!" No... it was just the regular looking Sans. A tinge of fear began to bubble up inside her stomach as she stared. "We have a cat? When did we adopt a cat?" Papyrus proceeded to scratch his skull a bit, turning to see Sans. "Greetings brother. Wowie, did you change- WAIT JUST A CARPAL SECOND!" Papyrus turned, playfully scowling at Sol. "I see now! You sly not-human. You attempted to disguise yourself as my brother to fool me into letting you out! Nyeheheheheh! But you cannot food THE GREAT PAPYRUS WITH YOUR SILLY GAMES!" Finaly! Solstice stared at Papyrus blankly. Was he serious? Sans broke the silence with a chuckle, of course he had something to say. "Looking a bit... Humerless there, kid? Don't know this Ink imposter. But, again the name's Sans. This is Papyrus." "...Yeah, I got that the first three or four times I've heard you bother speak." Solstice responded, a tinge grumpy. "Look... I have no idea who Iam, or... Where Iam. Or even what I'm doing at this moment! So... Can we just skip this scene and you guys just let me out? Please?" Both brothers paused a moment, Sans grinned passively. 

 

"Brother, the not human wants out. Is that permitted?"  Sans looked on toward Sol, still grinning lazily. Though, by the look of his... apparent one white eye... Maybe that was just a neutral expression. Chilling much. After another scrutinizing stare, Sans pulled up his sleeve and looked at a watch. "Ok. If the kid wants to skip out on the explanation, I need to get back to work anyway. "

"What? You'll let me leave? Just like that? No tests... no... explosions?!" 

"Yep. Pretty much. Good luck catching your bareings." Now Sans was grinning. 

Blushing, Sol stepped closer to the door. Canvas came trailing past Sol, running his sleek fur across Sans' ankle. He left an odd... rainbow pattern where his fur had touched the skeleton, before he strode off into the snow. Sol soon followed suit, and inched between the brothers. She walked a short distance, into the freezing cold and turned back to Sans and Papyrus reluctantly. "Ah... Thank you for taking me in. I guess I owe you one... or two?"

 

Papyrus turned to Sans as Sol vanished into the Snowdin. "Are you sure we should let her leave, brother?" Unlike Sans, Papyrus seemed much more concerned about the gril leaving. Sans however, gave an assuring yet... slightly bitter grin to his brother. "It's not like she's human or anything. Who am I to stop her? Besides... she skipped the scene." Papyrus sighed. "I guess you're right. " Sans watched, his one eye pinned to the girl's direction. "She'd better find 'em, before he finds her. Come on bro. I'm chilled to the bone, lets go pay a visit to Grillby's." "But did you not just say you had to work?"

....

 

Cold feet... Cold feet! Okay, she'd admit, it may have been better to approach this situation with some shoes. She couldn't have just asked them for her clothes? Wait... why didn't she just do that? Sol was nearing a foreboding fog. Snowdin began to grow more distant, yet she drew deeper into the woods. She couldn't see the woods, but a keen sense of smell, and the strong presence of pine was a good indicator of her location. Hmm... Nothing ahead, or behind now. She was starting to feel a bit lost.  A crack sounded in the distance, at first, Sol just sped up. When the crack came again, and much closer this time, she spun around, attempting to see. "...Which way is which? Man, I should have just kept walking." The cold girl whined, rubbing at her side. Wait, did something chuckle?! "...Hello?" Sol spun again, dizzying herself.  How did caves even accumulate this much weather!

 

Urgh, no clothes, no shoes... Nothing, nothing but a dumb jacket. That damned perverted InkSans was going to catch an earsocket full from her! ...If he existed? That thought was an easy enough one to snuff, something in her just KNEW she'd met Ink and Dream... Speaking of which. "Hellooooo! I'm really lost, here! Would be great if you could help me, ya lazy boneses!" She shouted out into the fog. Sadly, Sol's voice only carried between the trees. Hugging her... stub, the stranger pushed on. Why did she get the feeling that this was her fault? More movement around, had Sol thoroughly chilled. Maybe, maybe it was just an overactive imagination. Maybe it was a-... Sol stopped, barely in time to avoid running into a hulking black figure. 

 

"Ah- Sorry! Sorry about-... That?" Sol stepped backwards, watching the anomaly twitch and glitch out, randomly. A stream of colors reflected off of the fog, as the creature re-materialized. Now she'd done it... hadn't she? Wait, was the ground flickering now? Upon looking the newcomer in the. eye, there formed a face around it, with one scar running above one eye, and below the other. This thing had an oddly crescent curved, toothless mouth, that opened. Instead of words, there came an deafening static. The noise was, distracting to say the least. Red and blues shifted from left to right. " This... doesn't seem right." She uttered. "I- mean, don't take that the wrong way. You y-you're totally perfect~!" Sol laughed nervously.

As the figure moved closer, the scene began to become much too familiar for the girl's comfort. Why did she get such a painful sense of deja vu? "Ah- heh heh. I'll just go now." Turning on her heel Sol started walking... Almost running away from the cloaked man of inverting colors. A feeling slowly crept up the stripped knight's back, a creepy crawly sort of feeling. Was he... following her? Another wave of fear wrenched at Sol's gut, dare she turn? She didn't think on it further, and of course... looked behind her to see- Nothing? Well, nothing but pine trees. Had she made it out of the fog? Thank god.

 

Sol gazed around, and began to walk again... Taking a slight turn only to be met with the tall, lanky figure, hovering over her. "Ah- y-you again?!" The face peered back down at Sol, opening his mouth again, showing an odd glowing blue color. This time there was... some sort of dialect. Well, it was more of a sound? "Ah-ah-ah--..." Sol clutched her ears as the sound was drowned out by static again. Ears shifted backwards, unable to hand the disorienting distortion. She made a futile push at the visitor. Her own hand phased through the man, losing her already poor balance, she fell into the mass of error signs and wingdings. An odd confliction forced Sol's appearance to change suddenly, leaving her to fall into the snow with a yelp. 

 

Odd images filled the girl's head now, as she tried to get up. In one desperate attempt to get away, her bare foot dug into the ground, and she lunged forward... And out of the mess. The creature loomed over Solstice yet again, in an odd tyrade of numbers and symbols, his expression seemed to shift, to that of concern and frustration. But, Sol wasted no time, this time and got up to bolt off. Sol's footsteps were lost in the gust of wind, that moaned through the trees and static. As she made her escape, the world started to change, the trees lit ablaze. Yet, this stubborn, thing was still following her?! From her side, the creature materialized, trying to keep up with the frantic girl. And when he was infront of her, she'd just bite her nausea and push through him, literally. 

 

Finally, the phenomenon settled up ahead. In frustration, Sol screamed over the noise. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"  She skidded to a stop, looking at the new stranger, who kept flailing.... No, he was putting together some kind of wording? "I-... I'm sorry! I don't speak wingding! ...And obviously you can't speak so... Just uhh... close your mouth please?" The figure paused, closing his mouth, and letting his arms fall to the sides of his white coat. The sound stopped, and Sol sighed. "...Thank you. So, what is it? I'm... just going to call you Wingding for now. " The figure, now known as Wingding paused, then nodded. When the atmosphere calmed, save for him, he pointed a holed hand to the left of Sol. Following the hand, Sol's gaze met... Water. "....Oh. Here, I thought you were trying to kill me. I feel like an ass now." Wingding put his hand to his cracked forehead, and shook it. "So... Do you have any idea where I am... Wingding? Or... actually- Just point in the direction of the nearest town." Wingding looked around, then pointed a thumb behind him. "Thanks... I literally thought I was going to die a naked, one armed mess." Wingding cracked a smile, but paused.

 

Another flurry of symbols and numbers interrupted the atmosphere of the forest. Raising an eyebrow, Sol looked around. "...Did we not establish that I don't speak wingding? Will ya stop that before you break the-" A holed hand brushed up against the girl's mouth, cutting her off. Wingding's expression shifted, as his head tilted to the portal beginning to form. Wingding glowered toward the sky, stepping in front of Sol. With every different pixelated shift, the man's expression changed and shaped different looks for him. As the portal opened, trees suddenly fell around Wingding and Sol, breaking the cliff apart. With no time to jump off, Sol went plummeting into the river below. At the mercy of the suddenly rapid currents of water, Sol was pulled under, she twisted and kicked, fighting to resurface. Under the rippling surface, Solstice saw it... Wingding and... Him... The Error, face to face. Wait... What?! Was he going to face that bastard alone?

 

Resurfacing, Sol pulled in a wave of air. "Hey-!" She tried to protest, but more trees fell, pushing her under again. The water had a mind of its own, pulling her around as lines of glowing blue shot over the cliff. After which, it went dark for a moment. 


	4. Inquilibrium

Chapter 3 Inkquilibrium

 

Ink paced back and fourth. Despite Dream's protests, he nervously crossed a path of lillies floating on a small river in an odd meadow of moss and seedlings. The babbling of the waterfall was SUPPOSED to be comforting! But, not this time, actually... it was kind of giving him the urge to use the bathroom. Wait, could skeletons use the bathroom? Was he really having this inner monologue on the subject?! He should know this sort of thing! Well... He could form-... Hmmm, maybe he didn't need to use the bathroom afterall. So maybe, that creeping feeling was just the anxiety without his friend. Ink scowled, tugging at his long, cargo shorts, and adjusting them so they weren't up so uncomfortably high. "...Where did she go?" Ink growled. "Why is she taking so long, Dream?" He paused, gasping. Dream, who was playing with little rainbow fish in the river from the last... incident, looked up, stomach resting on the floating paintbrush. "You don't think-..." "I THINK... That Sol is fine, Inky. Calm down, before ya puke yourself again! You know how you get. I mean, the Ink Fish are lookin' pretty hungry but-...No! You need to calm down." he repeated. 

  
...Yes, the unfortunate curse that had been bestowed upon him. Well... That rejected ink had to go somewhere! Ink clicked his jaw. "...I know, I know!" It didn't help that he felt at fault for what happened to Sol's timeline in the first place. She was so injured, so... fragile right now. And naturally, he liked to think he was a pretty good guy! 

 

As a pair of sloppy footsteps echoed through the hallways, bouncing off of a few echo flowers, the bone besties looked up. Sure, Dream was excited, and had been worried, but he knew Sol could handle herself. But Ink... Ink jumped off of the last two floating lillies, and bounded toward the sound. "So-BLEH!" Dream sighed, watching the inevitable spewing of Black ink as Ink, tripped over himself and fell face first... At the bare feet of a very upset looking-... Not kitty cat? "See! I told you Inky!" Dream scolded. Ink looked up at Sol, like a guilty, messy faced puppy. "Eh-... heheh... Hey!" He leaned up, and got to his feet, awkwardly wiping the ink away with his scarf, that immediately absorbed it. 

 

"...You, STRIPPED ME?! Do you have any idea how hard it was to find you?! If it hadn't been for... Wingding, I wouldn't have known where to start...." She ranted, staring the two in the eye sockets. Dream hiccuped, also pouting like a scolded puppy. "I think she's mad, Inky..." Ink sighed, yep... This was his fault. And he definitely overdid it with the magic. Wait... WIngding? Why did that sound so familiar? Further-... Sol slipped passed Inksans, looking Dream over, she pinched his cheeks gently. "Not to mention dealing with blue-eyed Mc.Glary Bones and his bad jokes! And-..." Ink hopped over to Sol, putting his hands on her shoulders in surprise. He seemed to be looking for something frantically. "You MET Sans?! And he DIDN'T try to kill you?!" Ink gasped. 

 

"Uh... No? Why would he try-... IT's something I should know isn't it! Dammit! You and your hiding! For someone soooo colorful, you're awfully cryptic!" Sol sighed, too exhausted to rant any longer. Ink had listened diligently to his friend.

 

"Look... I know, it's a lot to take in. But please, sit down and listen. We're not trying to make a fool of you." Ink soon hovered his hand over the ground, bits of ink lifted and formed a mirror for Sol to look at herself. Why was Ink showing her a mirror? She knew her-... Wow, her appearance was much, more different than she expected. Standing, barely at about 5'1, a young lady in a green and yellow sweater, stained with red. Her hair looked about the same... White, darkening down to brown. ...More flecks of red. Her eyes, though... They were switching between blue and red, until they settled back to their mismatched form. And... black capris. Well... Atleast she wasn't naked. Maybe bare foot, but not naked. Seems, she still had Sans' sweater. "I look.... human? But-... The bone brothers said I wasn't... I thought I wasn't..." Ink nodded. 

 

"I'm getting to that part. Come on, lets get you in a position to rest, alright?" He lifted his hand, gently taking Sol's left arm, and ushered her behind the small waterfall he had been pacing at. Dream followed behind the pair, with Canvas riding on his shoulder. They came into a hidden room, where the three and the cat settled, getting a fire going. "So... What do you know so far?" "A Great big, zilch.. But, you both seem to know me. Sooo~ I guess it's story time." The cynical now-human sighed. "Get comfy, Kitty cat." Ink spoke, winking. Sol was already as comfortable as she could get. "A lot of times, strays fall down into the underground. Your timeline wasn't too different from this one. However, you fell into a world that was empty and not refreshed. I seen it before, but never like this..." 

 

" You not only became fused with Chara, but... For a while, you wandered through this abyss of dead monsters and remnant magic. Then... one day, the two of you decided to work together to rebuild the world." Ink's eyes went from a deep indigo, to a lighter, purple. "For years... Somehow... I don't know how you'd done it. But something in ya was determined to see the world live again. Then I came along and helped out, followed by Dream, R00ts... G-man, and many others. We all did the impossible and created a livable world again." Ink smiled weakly, growing sentimental. Suddenly, those purples blinked into an enraged red color. "But-... He came and destroyed it." "He?" "Error." Error? Who was Error? No... she knew Error. 

 

Stopping the conversation a moment... An exhausted Dream Sans nestled up next to InkSans, drifting off into the beckoning arms of sleep. In response, Ink wrapped an arm around the much smaller Sans Huh... That was.. kinda cute~. Dream must have really trusted Ink. Honestly... She was beginning to trust Ink more now. After a pause to calm down, Ink continued. "You became the Captain of the Royal guard, we thought it was most fitting, considering all you'd done with the place. You have this... really cool skill, see? It's a lot like mine. You can create things... from almost nothing." Sol looked over. "Really? So, why can't I now?" Ink pointed at her stub. "I think it's tied to that arm you lost. I can make you a temporary, but I don't think it'll be back to 100%. You'll need to be careful for a while." 

 

"So... I'm a cross between a human and a more... murdery human... " Well, she could make sense out of Sans hating her, the moment he saw her. "Guess I can accept Sans hating me." "I don't think he hates ya, kid... He's just worried. This timeline is in the middle of a run. He's usually pretty chill with people. Even hesitated with the last Chara. But you gotta understand... His world is often reset. It... weighs on you." Sol gazed down, nodding. "Anyway, Humans and monsters alike began to inch their way into the Beacon Timeline, that's what we came to call it. Or The INKquilibrium." He chuckled. "Do you even know what means, Sans?" Sol spoke flatly. Ink smiled. "Not a clue! But-... You gotta admit... IT sounds pretty cool!" Okay, she'd give him that. 

 

"You chose to change your appearance, to a more idolized character after the run in with Geno, and a couple of others that decided to attack you on sight. You look good as Mew Mew Kissy Cutie." Ink laughed. Sol just blushed. But a thought donned. "...Why did I leave in the first place? The surface I mean? You have to know... Right?" ...No response. After a minute or two, Sol inched over to Ink. "...Ink?" She gave him a gentle shake. Woah woah... Was HE sleeping too?! Sol glared. "Inksans!" She shook him a little harder. The rainbow bubble forming at Ink's nose popped, and he awoke. "Huh? Wh-..." His eyes lit up with color. "Oh, Sol! When did you arrive?" Sol clenched her teeth slightly. "We were in the middle of a VERY serious conversation! And you... fell asleep?! Mid sentence?!" Ink pouted, flailing his free arm. "I get tired okay!" He blushed rainbow. "Uhh... heheh... Wanna remind me of what we were talking about?" 

 

Sol groaned, falling backwards. "Dammit Ink!" She scratched at her head in agitation. "FINE! We were on the subject of WHY I left the surface." Ink looked over blankly. "Why? Well-..." He looked down, sullen. "Those were bad times... Remember what I said about dwelling in the dark too long?" Oh sure, he remembers her dream, that he stripped her in, but not this?! Sol groaned. "I give up... fine. But, now... I don't have a world to go back to... What do I do? Where do I go?" There were so many questions, she couldn't focus on just one... 

Ink looked Solstice over one more time, smiling sadly. "Well... We could check out The Omega timeline? There are plenty to visit..." Sol wanted to ask about this timeline. But-... She thought better of it. "For this timeline... we can only stay for a short time. And that's if we don't upset Sans. I don't want to ruin the original timeline or anything." Sol nodded. Mindreaders... "Alright... But-... can we do something about my arm?" Ink gazed at the stub, smiling. "What? Didn't I say we could?" "You know Ink... I don't even remember, this time." Ink nodded. "Yeah! I'll replicate your arm to the best of my ability!" He lifted his giant tool, and swung it, slopping ink everywhere. 

 

Sol shivered, closing her eyes. Why? She didn't know, it just felt like a good time to flinch. As she waited, there seemed to be nothing but silence. "Ink? You done?" She finally pried her eyes open. She couldn't believe what she saw.

 

A Mass of black tentacles covered the cave walls, slinking and slithering around. Looking further, the tentacles lead to... Another Sans?! Dream, still rested peacefully, was in the grasp of the tentacles. Hold on, wait... He wasn't sleeping, he was stone! Pulling his now weapon made tool, Ink jumped up with a nasty glare. "NIGHTMARE!" ...Nightmare? This was... THE Nightmare Sans? A sharp-toothy grin warped the mass of tentacles and Sans, peered down. Sol began to get up, Nightmare lifted his hand. "No- No... Just settle right back down, or my lil bro here will have a dark time." He cackled, stepping into the cave. Ink hesitated, but held his weapon. He dare not glance at Sol at the moment. His mismatched orbs concentrated on Nightmare. "See... I'm looking for some intel... Mind sharing, Inkgeek? Would make this whole... interrogaton process MUCH, much easier... y'know?" Sol glared, standing up. "If you think-..." Ink moved his tool infront of his fiery friend, glaring at Nightmare still. It silenced Sol. Luckily, Nightmare seemed to completely ignore her, did he just not notice her? 

 

A worried Ink glanced back at Sol. "I'll handle this, alright?" As Sol went to voice her protest, the artist Sans stepped forward, lowering his tool defensively. What was going to happen? "Yeah, that's right... Nice 'n easy, geek." Nightmare gloated, the mass of tentacles set Dream down, still resting a tendril on him. "Alright... You... you're gonna tell me where the code master is, and I might leave my brother alone." Caught in a bind, he knew all too well about the code master,but he couldn't just... give that sort of information.  That'd be hell for the timelines!  Maybe he could stall until he thought of something... Or, maybe until Sol took the hint to run. Dammit! Why was this happening now, of all times?! 

 

"...Why do you even want that sort of information? It's pointless! Even if you got to the Code Master, how would you even make it work!" "Aha~! So ya do know, eh Ink Geek? Let's take a tour, shall we? We'll both be in Error's good favor if we do it." "What makes you think that Error will do something like that? He thinks EVERYONE that's not the original, or HIM is an abomination!" Ink yelled. As Ink and Nightmare began their standoff, something caught Sol's attention. The human slid around the two Sanses, moving over to the tentacles. One of Ink's eyes narrowed suddenly. No Sol! What were you doing?! That was the complete opposite of what he wanted! With this came the consequence of a large black tentacle smacking the artist across the room, into a wall. "Hey! Eyes up here Inkgeek! We ain't finished!" 

 

Ink rubbed at his lip, as black ink began to trail own his chin, slightly. He slowly stood, reaching for his tool that was kicked across the room. "You won't need that. Will you?" "Of COURSE I will!" Ink growled. "I... need to teleport us, y'know!" ...Please Run Sol, take Dream... and just run. He couldn't handle the thought of losing either friend again.  "...Oh." Continuing her army crawl across the ground, ever defiant Sol came closer to the glowing blue object. ...String? The blue string brought all sorts of unpleasant thoughts to mind. For a moment, she'd lost track of where she was, but, in a frantic motion, she took hold of the string. Her grip tightened, as it suddenly sent a wave of shock through her body. Yelping, Sol tore backwards, snapping the string apart. She latched toward Dream Sans. Severed from the link, Nightmare's head tilted toward Sol in surprise. "...Interesting." He grinned, as that same shock sent him writhing on the ground. "...And who's this, geek?" 

...Oh no, his gaze was focused on Sol now... What would he do? Ink opened his mouth to speak, but... another figure emerged through the doorway. Two massive skull-esque cannons honed in on the group, now as Sans entered the battle. "Yo. I don't care about your beef or anything, but can you have a cow on eachother somewhere else?" He spoke, scratching his bum casually. Sol had never felt so relieved to see someone that basically hated her. "Who the hell are you to talk to me like that?!" Nightmare shouted, but stopped in his tracks as he stared into the pupilless abyss of Sans' empty Sockets. "If I ask again, you're gonna have a bad time, bud." The room went eerily silent. 

 

Dream melted away slowly, and Nightmare looked everyone over, he was outnumbered. "We'll be back!" He bellowed, sinking into the ground and vanishing. "Welp, glad that's over with. But-..." The cannons soon focused on Sol. "WOAH WOAH! WAIT UP SANS!" Ink flailed, running to cover Sol. Dream drew his starry staff. "You two need to move." Sans said. "She's not a threat to your timeline, Sans!" Dream protested. "We know you're busy, no one is going to mess with your timeline. Please." Sans paused slightly. This thing... they were defending it! And he saw that leech looking him dead in the sockets. Sans ground his teeth, keeping his blasters focused where they were. There wasn't even a Frisk, just two scarred--... No, he had to kill them, before they killed HIM. Solstice stared between her two protectors, she froze in place. "Guys-..."

 

Ink's gaze narrowed back to his friends in concern. Then he looked toward Sans. "This doesn't have to get messy." The room filled with magic, as Ink's rainbow blasters appeared. Sans wasn't phased. Nor was he willing to move, still. "They can't even fight. If you want us to leave, we'll leave right now."  Ink spoke, he knew Sans... This wasn't like Sans. He was never this much of a hardass, especially when they were all promising to leave without fight. He'd never put in extra effort like this. Something was wrong. And if what he thought was true, they were in a lot more danger than he liked to think. A small shift of movement, put Ink's focus behind him. What was that girl doing now? 

 

Meanwhile... For Sol, the stress was getting to be too much. She felt a sickening sense of deja vu here. Was she going to die? Were her friends going to die, because of her? Comic's eyes moved from the opposers, to her now. Okay, that was a good start, maybe she could let them get away. He didn't seem to care about hurting anyone else here. "...Maybe, I don't deserve to ask, but..." She plead "Don't hurt my friends. I'll take your judgement, if you just let them go." Of course... It was just like their captain to do this. Ink stared shocked. "Sol, do you have any idea what you're saying?! It's stupid! That's what you're saying!" Seeing his friend, so down and hurt... It snapped something in Ink, he stepped forward, outraged.

 

"You're not who you used to be... Maybe this is a Chara, but they've long redeemed themselves. And you... you have no right to judge someone that's not apart of your timeline, Sans!" The Gaster blasters shifted toward. "Maybe I'm not... But I've only got one thing to ask. " He stepped forward, raising his hand. "How are you... going to stop me from doing my job?" Maybe she wasn't any threat, but to him... This was what he lived for, since he came into existence, he'd made it his duty to get rid of trash like this. And he enjoyed it.  Ink's starry eyed widened, angry. "I knew it!" It wasn't Sans... It was Error afterall. With no restrictions, the artist charged as the blasters lit with plasma.  

  As the fight began, the cave vibrated suddenly. Digital smoke began to come in from the walls. Lines of symbols whispered the static of their people, erroring in and out. Before long, the cave grew dark, and the illusion was lifted. A massive ripple of fragmented text ripped at the walls, revealing the glowing blue strings of Error. The figure at the base of this text attack was none other than the infamous 'Wingding', but it was so hard to tell... She couldn't put her money on it for sure. Taking his opportunity, Ink swung his paintbrush, snapping the puppet strings. The blasters dispersed into nothing, along with their plasma wave. Thank god. 

 

As quickly as he appeared, their savior vanished, leaving a cleaned cave. Ink and Dream looked shocked. The Sans in question didn't shift, but... Something told them, this wasn't the Timeline's Sans either. Said Sans looked at them awkwardly, "Uhhh, hi." He turned away, walking out of the room. "Are you okay, Sol?" Ink looked back to the very traumatized kitty lady. Well... She still wasn't in Mew Mew mode. Wait was she-.. Dammit, she was crying, he hated it when she cried. "...Come on, you two. We should get somewhere safe." Were they safe? She gave a small flinch, but warmed up to Ink's touch when he reached down, to pull her to her feet. "Heheh, what a mess, right?" Ink smiled, then looked toward Dream. "You ready to go, kid?" Oh no, was he going to cry too? "Is she okay? Are you okay? Are WE going to be okay? I'm Sorry Inky, I should not have slept..." He whimpered, guilty. 

 

Ink shook his head. "No, no... Don't say that. Even the protector of dreams needs sleep from time to time. " He patted him on the head. "I said, I'd protect you. And I will... It won't happen again, not on my watch, and look We've got our captain too. Maybe she's a little broken, but she'll be fine." Dream cracked a weak smile. "He won't catch me off guard again." The two went toward the cave entrance. Looking back toward the emptied room, Sol glanced over to Ink and Dream. "Is there a way to see my timeline? Or... what's left of it?" The two Sanses looked toward Sol in mild surprise. "Is that possible, Inky?" Ink furrowed his brow. "Hmmm... Maybe. I'll see what I can do."    

 

To be continued....

**Author's Note:**

> ^^;; This is my first time writing fics. I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you~  
> A lot of this, was also writing therapeutically. Inspired by my best friend.


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